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Clarae stellae, scintillate, RV625

Introduction

Vivaldi’s motet Clarae stellae, scintillate, RV625, whose text shows it to have been written for the Pietà’s patronal festival, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 2 July, probably dates from 1715. Eighteenth-century motet texts are rarely distinguished examples of Latin poetry—the French traveller Pierre Jean Grosley called them ‘un mauvais assemblage rimé de mots latins, où les barbarismes et les solécismes sont plus communs que le sens et la raison’ [a rhyming hotch-potch of Latin words, in which barbarisms and solecisms are more frequent than sense and reason]. The present text is true to type. The first aria asks the stars to blaze brightly on so important an occasion; the recitative identifies the Marian feast as the cause of celebration; the final aria, followed by the statutory ‘Alleluia’ movement, calls on all creation to rejoice.

The cheerful, almost naïve, style of the opening aria sets the tone for the whole work. In the bouncy second aria, Vivaldi renounces the customary da capo (ABA) structure and casts the movement in what one could term ‘chain form’: there are five different vocal sections (three of them marked to be repeated), each presenting a different portion of text. This loose kind of structure, clearly alluding to dance-music, is very characteristic of Vivaldi’s vocal music (including his operatic arias) in the 1710s. The ‘Alleluia’ wavers between F minor and F major in a manner also familiar from Vivaldi’s other music at that time.

Recordings

'Utterly beguiling pieces of music, impossible to dislike and easy to be beguiled by' (Gramophone)'Altogether a first-class collection, and excellently recorded' (The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs)» More

'For King's sterling service to the Vivaldian cause, one of his most important recording and satisfying projects to date, I am thankful' (Gramophone)'If you're waiting for the perfect collection of Vivaldi's sacred music, this is it. It was a happy day when this beautiful boxed set arrived in my m ...» More

The heavens, already filled with new splendour,
applaud on such a day,
and at the same time the whole earth beams
with the pomp of such a festival.
While the feast of the
nurturing Visit is celebrated
my heart also rejoices,
praising Mary and also praising God.